Photocomposing machines



May 5, 1970 Filed NOV. 14, 1966 w. KC D HLER ETAL PHOTOGOMPOSING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fltfa fII 'INVEN'TORS WOLFGANG KHLER cums-m, ROTH KARL-JURGEN DEBUS ATMIYQM May 5, 1970 w. Kc'jHLER ETAL 3,509,804

PHOTOCOMPOSING MACHINES Filed Nov. 14. 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS WOLFGANG KHLER CHRlSTA ROTH KARL-JURGEN DEBUS United States Patent 3,509,804 PHOTOCOMPOSING MACHINES Wolfgang Kohler, Alzenau, Christa Roth, Niederhochstadt, and Karl-Jurgen Debus, Bad Homburg, Germany,

assignors to Linotype G.m.b.H., Frankfurt am Main, Germany Filed Nov. 14, 1966, Ser. No. 594,190 Int. Cl. B41b 21/26 US. Cl. 95-45 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE sitized surface.

This invention relates to photocomposing machines, and more particularly to a character presentation apparatus for such machines.

In copending application, Ser. No. 465,884, filed and assigned to the assignee of the present application there is disclosed and claimed a photocomposing machine having one or several rows of character patterns of which only one row is illuminated at a time and in which the light beam required for the reproduction of the selected character is directed towards the film plane with the help of optical deflecting means. Moreover, the distances from the optical plane of each character pattern via its associated deflecting means to the common film plane are equal. In one embodiment of the invention this aim is achieved by the character patterns of one row being arranged in right-angle steps. Such an arrangement has the advantage, among others, that the character patterns are precisely similar to the masters from which the patterns are prepared.

Generally speaking, the purpose and advantages of a photocomposing machine provided according to the present invention consist in a simple, economically feasible construction and in the possiblility of an easy changeability of individual character patterns.

It is the object of the present invention to further increase the simplicity and economy of a photocomposing machine and to decrease the space needed for such a machine and the ineflicient use of light in imaging the characters on the film.

In carrying out the present invention, a photocomposing machine is equipped with one or several rows of character patterns, one of which only is illuminated at a time, and the light beam required for the reproduction of the desired character is selected by means of optical deflecting means which are moved into the focal light beam one at a time, by means of corresponding commands. A collimating lens is fixed between each character pattern and the associated deflecting means with the character pattern located in the plane of the lens. With such an arrangement the parallel light rays being emitted from the image side of the lens are directed via the deflecting means to an imaging lens which has the film on which the character images are formed located in its focal plane. Preferably, in accordance with the present invention, each deflecting means can be actuated in such a Way that the parallel rays of light emitting from it are brought into the optical axis of the reproduction system. This allows a specially simple optical and constructive design.

It was further found to be of advantage if an optical system is introduced in the optical axis of the reproduction system between the deflecting means nearest to the reproduction plane and the imaging lens of the repro- 3,509,804 Patented May 5, 1970 duction scale.

In accordance with the present invention the character patterns are preferably arranged in a common plane parallel to the optical axis of the system. This arrangement allows easy manufacturing methods, and requires little space, thus making possible a comparatively flat, compact design.

It is practical to arrange the rows of patterns, according to the invention, vertically and movably in relation to the direction of the illumination, e.g., in form of a drum which is turnable around the light source. This permits, amongst other things, a quick change of the characters from one type design to another and represents a Well balanced turning system.

It is of further advantage in accordance with the invention to arrange the character patterns exchangeably in their carrier. In this way characters and symbols can be arranged arbitrarily in the carrier or magazine and can thus be rearranged and individually replaced depending on the requirements of a composing assignment.

The deflecting means preferably are mirrors or prisms; mirrors, for instance, possess the special advantage of an extremely low loss of light while the advantage of prisms is that the light beam deflected thereby may be optically influenced if required.

Further characteristics, advantages and possibilities of application of the new invention can be gained from the attached illustrations of various embodiments of the invention as well as from the following description.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of the optical construction of a photocomposing machine in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic view in perspective of the essential parts of a photocomposing machine embodying the optical system of FIGURE 1.

Reference is first made to FIG. 1 in which light from a rod shaped light source arrives via the condenser lenses 2, 3, 4, 5, through the patterns of characters 6, 7, 8, 9, to the achromatic lenses 11, 12, 13, 14, which are arranged on a common mount 10. In the known manner the achromatic lenses consist of a bi-convex lens 15 and an attached plane concave lens 16. The distance between the letters or symbols, respectively the character patterns, and the associated achromatic lenses 11, etc., is chosen to be equal to the focal length I of the lenses. The li ht beam projected through the associated achromatic lens, e.g. 11, is collimated (17) and is directed into the achromatic lens 20 via an actuated deflecting prism 18 out of a row of pentagonal prisms 19. The collimated light from lenses 11, etc., will pass over the prisms is since they are normally in a lowered position, but when a character is selected for imaging on the film, its associated prism, e.g., prism 18 for character 6, will be raised into the path of the collimated light 17 which will then be deflected towards lens 20. This lens produces an intermediate image 21 of the character in its focal plane which is spaced from the lens by the focal length in. Behind this intermediate image a further achromatic lens 22 is located. The distance from the intermediate image 21 to lens 22 equals the focal length fIII of the lens 22 and in this way the light 23 representing the character is collimated. If it is desired to change the magnification ratio of the filmed image with respect to the character pattern, a lens 22a having a different focal length can be substituted in the optical path for lens 22. The focal length of lens 22a is fIIIa and the lens must, therefore, be spaced from the intermediate image 21 by this distance.

The light from lens 22 or 22a is directed through a pivotting mirror 24 and thence through the image forming lens 25 to the reproduction plane. The mirror pivots about a vertical axis (FIG. 2) and this is illustrated by the double arrow PS. The path of light 26 emitted from lens 25 produces the image 28 in the reproduction plane 27 which is spaced from the lens by a distance equal to the focal length IV of the lens.

Since the light beam between the achromatic lenses 11-14 and 20 is parallelled in accordance with the invention, the distance of these two achromatic lenses to each other does not influence the sharpness of the image 28. The turning mirror 24 effects the forming of the single characters to a composed line in the reproduction plane 27.

The reference numerals represent the same parts in FIG. 2 as they do in FIG. 1. Following are further explanations of the constructive design and of further parts of a machine. The character patterns, e.g. 6, 7, 8, 9, are mounted exchangeably on a common bar shaped mount 29. The mount for the achromatic lens I is T-shaped as shown.

Above the deflecting prism 1-8 associated with the lower case letter d is mounted an identical prism 30 associated with the capital or upper case letter D. Both prisms are mounted on a common prism mount, and are normally out of the path of the light coming from the upper and lower case characters. The prism mounting and the prisrris are adapted for vertical movement into the light path, and they are guided in this movement by guiding rods 32 and 33 which move in bushings 34 and 35. Both bushings are fitted to the prism carrier 19a. The lower guiding rod 32 is connected via a system of levers, collectively numbered 36, to a solenoid 37 for up and down movement. The double arrow 38 indicates both directions of the movement.

The light beam 39 emitting from the prism 18 is directed by means of a lower mirror 40 to a semi-transparent mirror 41 fitted above it. Both mirrors are fixed in their position and serve both the passage of the lower light beam 39 (representing the lower case letter a) and the passage of the upper light beam 42 (capital letter D). The selection of the upper or lower case is effected by energizing either the upper case flash lamp 1 or the lower case flash lamp 1a, as the case may be.

The light beam coming from the upper mirror 41 is directed through the achromatic lens to the point of the intermediate image 21 and from there through the achromatic lens 22, collimated (23) to the image forming objective to the turning mirror 24 which is moved by means of a turning device, collectively illustrated (44). The path of light 23 goes from mirror 24 as a focusing path of light 26 to be reproduced in the illustrated example as a lower case letter at in the plane of reproduction.

The achromatic lenses 22 and 22a are mounted in turning discs 45 and 46 respectively which are movable mounted by means of their spindles 47 and 48 in suplport brackets 49, 50 and 51, 52 respectively. Movement is effected by means of the motors 53 and 54 via gears 55 and 56 respectively. These moving devices serve to elfect a change in the reproduction scale because the lenses have different focal lengths.

Having thus described the invention it is to be understood that many apparently widely diflerent embodiments thereof can be had without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the drawings and specification are to be interpreted in an illustrative rather than a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A photocomposing machine comprising a character font plate having the characters of a font arranged thereon in two rows, one row for upper case characters and one row for lower case characters, a first light source for illuminating the upper case characters, second light source for illuminating the lower case characters, a plurality of collimating lenses, one for each character in a font, each lens being spaced from its associated character by a distance equal to the focal length of the lens, a plurality of light deflecting means, one for each character in a font, means for selectively moving the light deflecting means for an upper case character and the corresponding lower case character simultaneously into and out of the light paths from the associated collimating lenses, to thereby direct light from a selected character along an optical axis, an imaging lens located on the optical axis, a film holder for positioning a film in a plane space from said imaging lens by a distance equal to the focal length of said imaging lens, means for energizing one or the other of said light sources whereby the upper case of the lower case characters are illuminated, and means for imaging projected images of successively selected characters in side by side relationship onto the film.

2. A photocomposing machine in accordance with claim 1 including an optical system arranged in the optical path of the machine between the light deflecting means nearest to the film plane and the imaging lens required for the reproduction for changing the image size of the reproduced characters.

3. A photocomposing machine according to claim I characterized in that the characters are formed on elements that are individually removable and replaceable on the character font plate.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/ 1952 Klyce -45 2,946,268 7/1960 Moyroud 954.5 3,074,328 1/ 1963 Rossetto 954.5

JOHN M. HORAN, Primary Examiner 

